Veerabhadrarao Kunam is a native of Vishakapatnam.
AB Wire
A 58-year-old Indian businessman has been charged with sexual assault for inappropriately touching an American woman while traveling on Virgin America’s flight from Los Angeles to New Jersey, reported Washington Post.
The man identified as Veerabhadrarao Kunam, a resident of Vishakapatnam appeared before the US Magistrate Judge Joseph Dickson on Monday in Newark federal court and was released on a $50,000 secured bond.
If convicted, Kunam may get a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He was arrested by the FBI on July 30 when the flight arrived in Newark.
According to the complaint filed by the woman, she was traveling along with a friend on the flight. Kunam seated next to her. She fell asleep during the journey and found the man touching her private body parts when she woke up.
She alerted her male travel companion who was sitting next to her and exchanged seats with him.
Kunam tried to soft-pedal the incident by offering the male companion of the woman to buy a drink. He wanted everyone to forget about the incident. But the companion rejected the offer and informed the crew members about the incident.
The crew members immediately moved the businessman to another seat and prevented him from moving back. The FBI officers were waiting at the New Jersey airport to arrest Kunam as alerted by the crew.
The Hindu reported that Veerabhadrarao Kunam runs an aqua exports company in Visakhapatnam that supplies frozen shrimp to American, European and other markets.